Christine Carrillo Young girls and boys of...

Christine Carrillo

Young girls and boys of all ages graced the stage of St. Andrew’s

Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach Sunday afternoon emulating the

presence of a professional adult orchestra in almost every way.

The young musicians, who ranged in age from 3 to 16, epitomized

the look of orchestra musicians preparing for a concert as they took

the stage in the Suzuki String Festival 2002 event sponsored by the

Orange County Chapter of the Suzuki Music Assn. of California.

The only notable visual difference between the young musicians and

their professional counterparts was their behavior.

As some of them struggled to lug around cellos equaling them in

size and others continued wave their violin bows in the air while

they waited, it was clear that they were young. However, once they

began to perform different pieces from Bach, Veracini, Schumann and

Mozart their skills quickly overshadowed their youth.

“It’s just so inspiring to see the younger children get to see the

more advanced students and look forward to the more advanced music,”

said Karen Ahmadi, one of the Suzuki teachers whose students and son

were performing in the event. “Usually it gives them an opportunity

to perform at a higher level.”

The event, now in its 30th year, began with a performance by the

Santiago String Youth Orchestra, which celebrated its 12th

performance at the festival and is made up of musicians in grades six

through nine. Various pieces were then performed by young cellists

and violinists of different talent levels and was concluded with a

group performance of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

“It’s pretty exciting,” said 14-year-old Marissa Watkins, a member

of the orchestra who began playing the violin three years ago. “I’m

hoping to maybe be a concert violinist in college.”

Like many of the 350 young musicians registered for the festival,

Watkins enjoys making music people want to listen to. While making

music is an obvious benefit, from a parent’s standpoint there’s much

more to a child’s involvement in music.

“We all do everything together,” said Costa Mesa resident Susan

Good, who had three of her four children performing at the festival.

“They all play together and help each other. That’s what’s great

about the Suzuki Method, it teaches cooperation and helping others

... and they get a sense of pride and accomplishment.”

With the Suzuki Method, students learn by practicing daily with

the aid of a teacher and parent and can begin learning to play as

early as 3 years of age. Good’s three children, Joey, 8, Jack, 6 and

Samantha, 4, all began learning to play the violin at 3. Since young

children are taught, according to this method, at a very slow pace

and taught to help one another, Good had no concerns about negative

sibling competition and instead, held high hopes that each one of

them would benefit greatly from the experience.

“I wanted my kids to have a musical experience to add to their

lives ... to have a beautiful soul,” said Good, who is a cellist

herself. “It’s a fabulous thing and I really think that if more

people learned music it could change the world.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO is the news assistant. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4298 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.